Organising Chaos

 It has been quite a week! I started out by taking my dad to the dentist then a care home for a week’s respite visit, then my sister and I took my Mum home from hospital. She is finding it difficult to rest and recuperate as she usually runs around after my Dad. She had become quite stressed and overwhelmed, which I am sure led to the mini-stroke (TIA). I have tried to find ways of simplifying daily life here. I don’t know whether it is because their house is spacious and has lots of cupboards but there seemed to be “stuff” stashed in multiple places. I find that organising things reduces stress so I rounded up all of the meds and first aid supplies, putting them into labelled boxes in one sideboard. I will probably find that everything gets returned to its original place when I leave;)

Although I brought my laptop to try and do some work, my role as a temporary carer takes  an astonishing amount of time, patience and brain-space. I admire anyone who deals with it full time and I feel that people who work with Old People deserve far better wages!

I did go into Norwich one late afternoon for a mooch and met Nella for dinner which was nice. Nessie has been a very good dog and loves sitting on the back of the sofa to watch out for visitors.

The coming week will be interesting as I will be the carer for both parents. My sister and I are trying to persuade my Mum to accept more help and once that is in place I should be able to head home. I think my Dad would like me to hang around as long as possible but I definitely want to be back for Fergus’ birthday in mid December at the latest.

This was Not part of The Plan…

 

Things were ticking along nicely in my workshop - I had to do a couple of customer quilts with binding and I planned to keep working through the Art and Stitch manual. On the side I was posting junk for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

Everything changed mid-week when my sister called to say that it looked like my Mother was having a stroke! I threw some stuff into a bag, booked a one way train ticket and headed to Norfolk with Nessie.

Things were up in the air for a while until we knew how serious the episode had been. It was what is described as a TIA with some other medical issues caused by the strain of being a round-the-clock carer for my dad. My sister and I have been poking our noses in for a while, trying to suggest how to make life easier but this has been a huge wake-up call and some changes will have to be made so my Mum can cope better and stay healthy.

I am a bit scared that I will be “told off” for clearing out the fridge and not rescuing the marmalade under a thick covering of green mould. My sister keeps reminding me that I am not actually 15 any more and am allowed to make some executive decisions. 

Quilting Workout

 

At the start of the year I declared that I would like to be fitter but I confess that I have done nothing about it. However, this week I had quite the quilting workout. Liz and Frances were here with an impressive collection of quilts. We had both machines going doing freehand and computerised quilting, using up more than a full roll of wadding. The results were super:)

The other thing that had me dashing about was having a bit of a clearout - I had some success selling a few things on Facebook Marketplace and Vinted which has spurred me on to get rid of some things that I have been hanging onto. This week I will advertise my vintage sweet-shop scales and the Raeburn cooker which has sat dormant in the garage for years. As a self-confessed junk shop addict, my house, yurt, summerhouse and workshop are all bursting at the seams. 

Sadly, I have to report that Pepper aka Blue Cat has died at the grand old age of almost 20. She was a bit of a weirdo really but a lovable character and we will miss her as we had her for 14 of those years. 

Freya came for the weekend with her boyfriend, George and his border x bearded collie pup, Poppy. Nessie was not too impressed with the visitor who was a bit bumptious for her liking. She is good at putting cats in their place (she thinks) but she preferred the new dog to be outside. The Christmas hols are going to be interesting…

Fireworks and Fluff

Unless I have a list to cross off, I feel as though I have achieved nothing in Life. That list can include walk / brush dog just so I feel I have earned the right to exist in the world. Of course, the Universe could not give a toss whether I make my bed, water my plants or brush my hair…

I completed the experimental non-slip sofa cover which does a pretty good job. The red is nowhere near the shade of the original sofa which needs a really deep treatment of leather cream. Now, I should really make another one for the other sofa but it really was not a thrilling task. The worst thing was the amount of red, fuzzy fluff that got absolutely everywhere.

Despite my Q-matic system occasionally going on strike because I have not yet fitted the new cables, I managed to get 2 customer quilts done. 

The other major task I have set myself without deviating into any other projects is to become an expert on all of the ins and outs of “Art and Stitch”. I have been carefully working my way through the manual, getting more familiar with it all. I still don’t understand why things don’t always work out how the instructions explain it and I freely admit that I find drawing with Beziers (nodes and vectors) bamboozling! With perseverance, I hope to get there in the end.

I can’t believe we are in November already. Freya came for a visit and we went to the popular fireworks display in Banchory. It was muddy and crowded but we got a place right at the front and enjoyed the 30 minute spectacle and large bonfire. Instead of queueing for food there we had hot-dogs and soup at home which was far more civilised.